Nasca Ceramics: Ancient Art from Peru’s South Coast

Adorned with vibrant hues and intricate designs, ceramic vessels made by the Nasca people are a strikingly beautiful testament to a culture that flourished along Peru’s arid southern coast 2,000 years ago. Although these people are perhaps most famous for the “Nazca Lines”–massive animal-shaped earthworks visible from above–a new Peabody Museum small exhibit will examine this culture through its unique pottery style. Nasca artisans fashioned bowls, jars, and plates from coiled and

Adorned with vibrant hues and intricate designs, ceramic vessels made by the Nasca people are a strikingly beautiful testament to a culture that flourished along Peru’s arid southern coast 2,000 years ago. Although these people are perhaps most famous for the “Nazca Lines”–massive animal-shaped earthworks visible from above–a new Peabody Museum small exhibit will examine this culture through its unique pottery style. Nasca artisans fashioned bowls, jars, and plates from coiled and modeled clay and painted them using 15 different mineral pigments–one of the most diverse palettes known in the Americas. Presenting rich and colorful imagery of cats, foxes, falcons, people, and mythological beings, Nasca pottery is a captivating window into the beliefs and customs of this mysterious ancient people.

Nasca Ceramics: Ancient Art from Peru’s South Coast opens to the public on Saturday, October 1 at 9:00 AM, coinciding with the start of Massachusetts Archaeology Month, and will remain on view through Sunday, September 3, 2017 at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University. The exhibition is curated by Jeffrey Quilter, the William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University.

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